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Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

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Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#261

Post by lobocinza »

lucb1e wrote: post #251
lobocinza wrote: post #224

I switched to AntennaPod and VLC. I realized I don't need algorithmic recommendations or streaming. I know what I want and my phone has plenty free space.

Also, for anyone who (like me) doesn't regularly keep up with micro-SD prices, you may be happy to find that 128GB cards are now dirt cheap. You don't have to juggle what's on your phone anymore. I don't know when this happened, but that's multiple months' worth of audio with all your internal storage free for pictures or the like.

> You don't have to juggle what's on your phone anymore.

Unfortunately, sometimes you have. Apps can not moved to SD card depending on Android version or vendor.

Also, I use a Syncthing oneway folder to automatic sync downloaded music to phone.

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#262

Post by rtpg »

bedhead wrote: post #238
marc__1 wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will offer some data points from Spotify's Investor Relations [1] that add some additional color to the anecdotes from previous comments: - Total MAUs grew 27% Y/Y to 345 million in the quarter (...) Based on the behavior we see when users first join Spotify, we are confident that podcast usage has been a factor in the accelerated net additions. - The strength in Ad-Supported revenue was led by our Podcast , Direct,…

These bullets are conspicuously free of important details. "Podcast usage has been a factor" - okay, how much? Answer: no idea. "The strength in Ad-Supported revenue was led by our Podcast, Direct, and Ad Studio channels, with Podcast and Ad Studio both growing over 100% on a Y/Y basis" - okay, but from what starting point and how much did it contribute? Answer: not saying. "25% of our Total MAUs engaged with podcast…

One podcast was saying that their show subscribers coming in from Spotify was like... 0.x% of total listeners, across several shows. This was sometime last year, things could have changed but to be honest nor everything is a multi-trillion dollar industry and Spotify spending like or is is a pretty good application of wealth redistribution from VCs to artists

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#263

Post by ShroudedNight »

watwut wrote: post #214
will4274 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I meant like, a quote. or an episode. Some raw data I can listen to, not just your conclusion.

IMO, what you ask for is too much effort for caususal discussion on HN. If you want that, you have to listen for yourself.

I'm not sure why people expect their rhetorical counter-party to do the heavy lifting to convince themselves of a moral argument. Why should they care?

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#265

Post by vel0city »

Cd00d wrote: post #201
Lendal wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but they could lose subscribers due to Podcasts. See, I pay for Spotify because of their playlists. Playlists have nothing to do with podcasts. I listen to my podcasts using a different app. Yet Spotify keeps throwing its podcasts in my face. Spotify is not good at podcasts. That's why I use a different app for that. I'm getting tired of scrolling past all the podcast spam in my Spotify UI, and yet Spotify provid…

Can you tell me how Spotify is with playlists of comedy albums? I started falling asleep to comedy a couple months ago to manage poor sleep based on a generally negative attitude. It was fine on YT Music for a while, but now a lot of the community playlists are garbage, or most of the clips have been pulled (I assume some copyright issues). I'd move to Spotify for that, and pay, if they had a catalog of decent standu…

There's a number of comedy stations on satellite/streaming radio like SiriusXM. I'm not sure what kind of value proposition it is but it might not be too crazy depending on your budgets versus your sleep quality.

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#266

Post by emayljames »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #227
emayljames wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YT Music has it all, categories, easy library listening, no podspaming, Chromecast. Spotify is like a salesman who has been drinking too much coffee.

For some reason, YouTube Music still puts music I've downvoted in the playlists it makes for me.

I've never encountered this. Sounds like an odd account specific bug.

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#267

Post by dingaling »

tshaddox wrote: post #185
NopeNotToday wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dont think Spotify cares about the 0.1% of users that bring their own MP3s. It's a shrinking market. The growth is all the people who never even heard of an EmPeaThree. I think back when I ripped my 350+ CDs to FLAC. In retrospect, it wasn't worth it.

I didn’t even try to upload my own songs. I just want to add stuff to my library and then be able to browse everything in my library by artist and album. On the iPhone app, this is impossible, which is absolutely baffling.

Why hold on to the concept of a library? I just pick a genre that fits my mood and let ${MUSIC_SERVICE} generate a playlist. If I don't like a song I just skip it.

I don't see any advantages of spending time and effort curating a library, which harks back to the days of physical media.

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#268

Post by gurkendoktor »

Lendal wrote: post #76
mrweasel wrote: post #35

Do Spotify actually manage to sell any significant number of subscriptions due to podcasts? Personally when ever I hear about an interesting podcast, and it's followed by "available on Spotify/Podimo, whatever", my reaction is always: Okay, never mind then. There are so many great podcasts on the open web. Those available on platforms like Spotify always seems to be people with existing celebrity status trying to "ca…

No, but they could lose subscribers due to Podcasts. See, I pay for Spotify because of their playlists. Playlists have nothing to do with podcasts. I listen to my podcasts using a different app. Yet Spotify keeps throwing its podcasts in my face. Spotify is not good at podcasts. That's why I use a different app for that. I'm getting tired of scrolling past all the podcast spam in my Spotify UI, and yet Spotify provid…

Podcasts have really ruined Spotify's mobile app. The worst part is that there is space for a "Podcasts" tab in the bottom bar that would have made everyone happy by clearly separating types of content.

Apple has gone a similar route recently with reducing the Activity/Fitness app to just two/three tabs, mushing all sorts of content together. I hope this doesn't become another user-hostile UI trend.

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#269

Post by piva00 »

nitrogen wrote: post #208
tachyonbeam wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's losing my interest more and more is that their music recommendations are terrible, rarely match my taste... And, uh, I wish there was an easier way for me to just browse music by category. I just want to see all the new releases under electronic music and browse through them quickly. I don't need to be spoon-fed things as part of "discover weekly". Also, the Spotify Chromecast integration is utter shit. It has…

What's losing my interest more and more is that their music recommendations are terrible, rarely match my taste... The really aggravating thing is that we know they have the tech to do better. There was that demo of a 2D embedding of genre-space that actually did a pretty decent job of grouping similar-sounding songs together, but their recommendations all seem to be based off of what was popular at the same time, or…

I don't see the connection between Smashing Pumpkins and Aphex Twin though, what kind of genre matching do you think would enable that on your specific example?

Not nit-picking, just piqued my curiosity about how you would connect those artists.

Re: Spotify is killing the open podcast ecosystem (2020)

#270

Post by yalogin »

Spotify sure is trying to turn podcasts into a subscription service. They buy as many as possible and add them to their subscription model is their plan. They at least get ad revenue if people don't move off their app.

Luckily the landscape of podcasts will not allow them to do that. There are way too many podcasts that are popular and make money. So buying all of them will be impossible. In a way they are similar to the open source landscape. Sure, there exist Apache, mysql etc but the ones that are not popular are equally important for the medium.

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